If you have time watch this 15min ’60 minutes’ piece (in tweet) on how companies are tracking & selling data (data you didn’t even realize you were giving away for free to be sold) how you can stop it, and speed up your computer for free. with ‘Disconnected’ ….TOD loads 2-3x as fast for me now

My pleasure, Auqua! There are different settings you can mess around with……. one word to the wise if you block (Automattic) under content…. you will not be able to access WP notifications, but it really speeds the loading of this site a lot.

Click on “content” in (list view) not (visual) everything in green is blocked. I un blocked twitter at the top…. but right below in Content uncheck (Google) removes youtube from comments… if you uncheck (automatic) ex. 83 requests…. it will block all the Gravitars by people’s comments, and load even faster……. right now I have +18% Time/Bandwith saved….just move your mouse over those bars it will show your personal results……. let me know if you have any more ?’s or the results.

“Arseniy Avakov, Interior Minister of Ukraine, announced the move during a special cabinet meeting.

“We anticipate that the mobilization will affect almost the entire country, and about 10 to 15 thousand people will be mobilized in the next 15 days,” said Avakov.

Prime Minister Yatsenyuk said, “So—anyone who wants to defend the country should join the National Guard.”

“There are training centers, there are lawfully issued weapons. All others who walk the streets with guns–[the MIA’s] position is clear–you are outside the law,” said Yatsenyuk, and Avakov added, “Absolutely.””

Thank you so much for the updates. This is just sad, and I keep wondering how far Putin will go. This situation has caused raw emotions in me and to think about how the repukes have held this guy up in honor over President Obama is just sickening.

I am with you Cindy! It’s really sad how the visceral hatred of President of President Obama, mainly because of who he is, has blinded right wingers, the media, and many of the so called leftists, to valorize Czar Putin.

“North America has no ties with the Russian energy industry at all. Furthermore, liquefied gas and the above-mentioned LTO allow the US to boost its export.

To grasp Europe is harder – one should see the whole picture. The former Soviet republics really depend on Russia, but not the political powerhouses of the EU. Unless one counts the states that joined the EU after 2004, Russia accounts for 26% of European oil import and 33% of gas import, which is slightly higher than Norway does. Moreover, having reached the peak in 2006, oil consumption in Western Europe has been declining sharply. It has already fallen to the level of 1980s.

Furthermore, it is very important to understand the trade ratios – Russia’s share in the trade balance of the EU is less than 10%, whereas the EU accounts for more than 50% of Russian foreign trade. The full-scale trade war with the EU will cause problems for Europeans; for Russia it will mean the collapse of its economy, which will double if oil prices are artificially depressed and triple if real sanctions are imposed because of Crimea.”

Now, the question is this: how would Russia retaliate to crushing sanctions? I saw the tweet you posted of Putin’s media czar threatening to turn the US into radioactive dust. That does not make me sanguine. Do the oligarchs have enough power to move against Putin? Do they want to?

With all the reading I’ve been doing, for several weeks LL, Putin has several real internal problems: 1. way more inhabitants of Russia are informed of the facts on the ground than Putin and his propagandists want anyone to realize; 2. his economy is shit for many of those inhabitants; 3. the bulk of the oligarchs wealth is outside of Russia; 4. 50 % of the Russian economy is from what it pumps – in can stop pumping fuel, it’s customers will stop pumping cash and his oligarchs aren’t going to enjoy that; 5. the US is in a primo position with regard to its ability to drive the price of crude to below $ 80 a barrel and doing so will absolutely crush the Russian economy and the US can crush Russia’s access to credit and ‘grey’ their banks.

In other words, #TzarVlado has bitten off more than he can ever chew and swallow.

The ‘nuke talk’ that emerged today informs me that they are already desperate. Could they be unstable enough to provoke a direct confrontation with NATO and the US is the open question. We will not have long to wait for an answer.

Thanks, Bob, for the analysis of the Russian economy. What’s interesting in the article you referenced above is how delusional Russians are about the US and EU dependence on their oil. The Russians are going to be in for a series of severe shocks and they may not know what hit them if they’re not prepared. And those are just the economic shocks. If Putin decides the on the insane confrontational approach, Russia might not find a single ally in the world.

Jackie, if you watch that UN Security Council meeting yesterday you will see a Russia effectively isolated by the international community. If Ukraine brings a resolution before the UN General Assembly, which is likely, in the next few days that isolation will be overwhelming.

Thanks Bob for this informed analysis! I learn so much reading your posts and your commentaries. What remains a puzzle for me is the current state of Putin’s sanity? If he is as delusional as the German Chancellor is reported to have said, are the Russian oligarchs strong and rational enough to stop him from plunging the world into total chaos?

To imagine old man McCain and Romney at the helm tells me one thing; we would all be in bunkers or trying to find them by now.

It sends shivers up my spine to think of these two calling the shots in a time such as this. I am not a shame to say; I thank God that President Obama is our President, finalized and non-negotiable, he’s our man.

I am with you 99ts! I am personally proud that I was one of the 53% that elected President Obama in 2008; and the 51%+ that re-elected him in 2012. Unlike Putin, our President is not pre-occupied with delusions of grandeur! All President Obama wants to do is to improve the well being of all Americans and bring peace to the world.

Hi night owl nathk – do hope you have recovered from the illnesses of not long in the past. I sometimes get mad at myself for mentioning certain people – but I have just been wandering around the inter tubes via links on some blogs I read & have come to the conclusion

Sarah Palin, Glenn Greenwald and Fred Phelps all survive in the media because they have a group of followers who treat them as a messiah – who are completely blind to anything negative that the person does – because in one instance this person did something they thought was wonderful. They assume they would be the head honchos in the world where their savior ruled – they just cannot see they would be treated as expendable if said savior ever had political power.

Many are called Obamabots because they support PBO – but there are few, if any, who think he can do no wrong. We all would have liked this or that or something else to have happened over the past 5 years – but we all agree that the alternatives from the GOP would have been disastrous to the USA and to the world. After 5 years of being studied through the magnifying glass he remains (other than the grey hair) the exact same man who you voted for in 2008.

Thanks 99ts for thinking about me. I recovered from the terrible flu/cold I got upon my return. Sadly, I still have to deal with unexplained pains of aging. Lately, however, I’ve been so busy catching up with work. Consequently, I tend comment sporadically though I visit the blog everyday to keep-up to-date. I may not tell you this often, but I truly value and appreciate your comments, which are always filled with insights and wisdom.

Thanks a gazillion for the posts Nerdy, I actually fell asleep for the last few hours after an obscenely early start to the day and the trauma of watching United, was woken by something slurping my face. I thought, ‘ooooooh, Denzil’, but it was Danny. Today has been one letdown after another.

upper class twits – invented by the guy who couldn’t win at football so he picked up the ball and ran away with it (which is apparently a story of doubtful truths – but in my world rugby union was always the amateur game for the toffs, while the working class got paid for playing rugby league).

Bobfr ~ is it just my view, or is our rain kinda taking on a ‘biblical’ feel?? NOAH comes to the big screen on 3/28, if people weren’t worried enough by other things, this epic ought to shake them to their Wellies! Don’t put away your winter gear yet, folks…..

I moved to where I am now in 1969 – rained for 7 months – all I wanted to do was go back to where I came from – we have since had floods, droughts and everything in between – many of which I can’t remember – but those first 7 months are etched on my brain.

My memory goes back a little further, 25 years next week…. But my first winter may not count, as it was all new then. Perhaps it’s being in a new environment, where each day the routine aspects are becoming a little more mundane, the novelty is wearing off. Or perhaps it’s these big, clean windows!!

Wow, MP, you guys in Washington are now complaining of too much rain? Isn’t that what the Northwest is all about — constant rain? I lived in Oregon for a number of years. It seemed like it was always raining all the time. Then I moved to Southern California. People here, and especially the drivers, go crazy whenever it rains. They just can’t handle it.

Oh dear, I didn’t mean to sound complaining as much as I was attempting to seek out another impression from a fellow native!! I’m sure one cannot live here for a long time, and thrive, if one does not at least like, better to LOVE, the rain. Our early and mid-winter months were dry and tho a few cold days appeared, it was warmer than normal. Many of us prayed for rain, and were very relieved when it arrived. Here in my new apartment building, for some decorative reason, the 5th floor (where I abide) has a rim below the windows, a ledge of sorts, covered for some unfathomable reason with a galvanized iron strip. Let me tell you, the rain makes a sound as if rocks are being thrown at the walls, and these past weeks the noise of the rain has been unprecedented for me!! On the other hand, the sound of rain brings a peaceful muffling to all else, and has a quietening effect on the sounds of the city!! Rain preferred to snow, any day!

MP, Sorry if I sounded a bit harsh there. I was trying to make fun of the fact that rain comes with the territory if you choose to live in the Northwest (Oregon and Washington). By the way, rain and all I truly love the Northwest. I think both Washington and Oregon are two of the most pragmatic progressive states in the country.

The Fight for Democracy in Ukraine: A Conversation with Center UA’s Svitlana Zalischuk

BY Micah L. Sifry

“In the third and last part of our conversation, I asked Zalischuk about the referendum about to take place in Russian-occupied Crimea and the massive Russian troop presence across the border from eastern Ukraine. “Russian invaded Ukraine,” she said, mincing no words about Vladimir Putin’s actions in the wake of Yanukovych’s departure from office. “The referendum itself doesn’t mean anything,” she added, noting that the choice was between “yes and yes,” and didn’t give people a choice of maintaining the status quo. “You can’t conduct a democratic referendum when a whole country is invaded and controlled by the troops of a foreign country.”

This is not a conflict between Ukraine and Russia, she said, it’s a conflict between the civilized world and totalitarianism, one that undermines the whole architecture of the European and world community. I asked her about the idea that the democracy movement in Ukraine was mostly strongest in the western part of the country and not so much from the eastern half, where Yanukovych got the majority of votes. She said the picture was more complicated, because Yanukovych himself had campaigned in favor of stronger ties with Europe when he was running for president.”

Ms. Zalischuk single-handedly raises the bar for journalistic transparency throughout the entire world, but an especial slap to the integrity of this shabby business we call the ‘press’ here in the US of A.

“Some on the Left, like CounterPunch, are parroting the Moscow line like it’s 1947 and Comrade Stalin can do no wrong. The only news source (as opposed to commentary blog) that the article cites is Voice of Russia, which is literally run from Moscow by the Russian government and is the direct successor to a Soviet-era propaganda broadcaster. Granted, this article was written before the referendum, but one expects CounterPunch and others like them to cite the 95.5% statistic uncritically, as though this was a simple exercise in direct democracy and not pawn push on the part of an authoritarian great power. Considering that 42% of Crimea’s population is not ethnic Russian, that Russian troops currently occupy the Crimea, and that a status quo option was not even included on the ballot, 95.5% is an awfully suspicious statistic. To give you some comparison, here in Texas the Republicans did not even break 90% in voting for expanding the locations that permit the concealed carry (“Expand CHL locations”) of firearms. In other words, supporters of Putin want us to believe that ethnic Tartars and Ukrainians like Russian rule more than Texas conservatives like handguns.

Imagine if the United States military had invaded and occupied the Mexican state of Baja California, publicly denied doing so, and placed a local secessionist eccentric in power. Let’s then imagine that this local eccentric called a ballot initiative in which the citizens of Baja California were not given the option of remaining as a state in Mexico, and that 95.5% of them voted to join the United States. Would leftists carry on the fiction that this was the spontaneous will of the people living in Baja California? No, they would not. They would point out, rightly, that to say so is to be ignorant of power.”

I’ve been using my smart phone to read and comment this weekend and I don’t get the TOD banner on my phone. I just logged onto my computer and opened up TOD and looked twice – then shook my head to clear my vision. My mind raced in a thousand different directions…

1) Am I having a stroke?
2) Am I going blind?
3) Is my new monitor going bad???

Noooo, it’s just Chipsticks celebrating St. Patrick’s Day early (whew!)

A 25-year-old Odessa man accidentally shot himself after he left a Downtown restaurant.

The man had been at Hooters near Alamo Plaza and was in his car and trying to load a 45-automatic weapon in his lap. The gun accidentally discharged. The bullet went through the man’s thigh and came through his knee.
……………………….//

I’m afraid his story about how he shot himself doesn’t pass the smell test. Can’t imagine why he might suddenly need to load his firearm after a visit to the Hooters fine dining establishment. Far more likely that he was trying to unload his, er, gun, and it went off prema … uh, accidentally. You know how excited those NRA guys get when they are handling a loaded weapon.